Miracle in Manhattan
by Autumn-Aurora82
Summary: Set 9 months after the finale, Charlotte is enjoying family life, but it's about to be shaken up by the impossible dream coming true.
1. Regular as clockwork?

Chapter One – Regular As Clockwork?

Charlotte York-Goldenblatt looked lovingly into the crib where here daughter Mae was sleeping peacefully. "We're so lucky" her husband Harry whispered as he stood beside her. Smiling, Charlotte turned and kissed Harry on the cheek. It was perfect.

Later on, Charlotte tidied their apartment as Harry relaxed in front of the TV. Charlotte liked to feel like a proper housewife. Unlike her friends, she didn't mind doing all the housework herself, to her it just made everything more perfect – she was a typical housewife and mother caring for her husband and baby daughter. Domestic bliss. It had been a chaotic day in the York-Goldenblatt household as Mae had celebrated her first birthday. Everyone had enjoyed the day immensely, especially Charlotte. She had taken the party in her stride, planning social events had always been on of Charlotte's favourite things, but this time was different and more special as it was a celebration of her dream being fulfilled.

As she put more used wrapping paper into the bin in the kitchen, Charlotte glanced up at the calendar and smiled at today's circled date, November 27th. As she turned to go back to the living area, she stopped in her tracks and returned to the calendar on the wall. She frowned to herself as she counted back the days in the month. "28, 29, 30…" she whispered to herself as she counted "... 34, 35. 35 days?" she questioned herself. She stood in confusion until she felt Harry's arms around her waist.

"Are you okay honey" Charlotte turned swiftly, "Yes" she said aghast and smiled "Yes, I fine, I was just thinking what a wonderful day it was today"

"Yeah it was" smiled Harry. He kissed her on the cheek. Harry wasn't stupid, he knew something was bothering Charlotte but for now he was going to wait and see if she told him herself. Harry went to the kettle leaving Charlotte, still looking confusedly at the calendar.

"Would you like some tea honey?"

Charlotte forced a smile "Sure" she answered "I'm just going to go to the bathroom"

Charlotte walked though her flawless apartment to the bureau in her bedroom. She opened the drawer and pulled out a small diary. She sat down and opened the dairy at todays date, and once again counted back, again 35 days.

Feelings of fear and excitement rose in the pit of Charlotte's stomach as the realization hit her like a truck; she was a week late.


	2. Thinking Back

Chapter Two – Thinking Back

The next morning, Charlotte lay staring at the ceiling as the winter sunlight beamed in through her and Harry's bedroom window. She had barely slept a wink all night; she was too busy thinking about her next step.

Last night she had shown to herself how much she had changed over the past couple of years. Instead of running, excitedly to Harry she calmly replaced the diary and joined him in drinking tea in the living room. She didn't want to, no; she daren't assume that just because her period was late that she was pregnant. Too much had happened in the past to assume. It could be a sign of so many things.

She looked over at Harry snoozing next to her. She felt bad not sharing this with him, but she didn't want to raise his hopes or make him worry. She decided that she would keep it to herself for now. They had been through so much in the last year, she couldn't load more stress onto him.

It had only been three months since they'd returned from China with their newly adopted baby daughter, Mae Elizabeth. Mae had made Charlotte feel complete, like her life long dream of being a mother was accomplished the second she held their little girl in her arms. Tears of joy had streamed from her eyes as her dream was finally realised, it didn't even matter that she would probably never have her own baby, they were a family.

Charlotte felt so confused as she cast her mind back over the past few years. When she was married to Trey, they had tried and tried to get pregnant without any success. That heartbreaking day that they discovered that Charlotte discovered that she only had a 15 chance of ever having a baby was still hard to think about, even now three years on. It made her marriage to Trey that little bit harder to see through. But that was the past now, after all, if she'd never married Trey she wouldn't have met Harry. She held onto that belief that everything happened for a reason, through everything, even last year when she had a miscarriage.

Harry began to stir next to her and she decided to get up and make breakfast. She didn't want to talk to Harry about this right now.


	3. Mixed Emotions

**Chapter Three – Mixed Emotions**

A while later as Charlotte dressed after a shower, she stood in front of the mirror just gazing at her slim hips, waist and tummy. Could it be that she was expecting hers and Harry's baby? She ran a hand over her tummy and whispered, "Are you in there baby Goldenblatt?"

She sighed softly and continued to get dressed, to go and meet the girls for brunch.

Charlotte walked through into the living room and smiled as she saw Harry, surrounded by toys, playing with a giggling Mae. In that moment, she hoped more than ever that the virtually impossible had happened and that she was pregnant.

"Are you ok honey?" Harry's words broke her daydream and brought her back to earth

"I'm fine" Charlotte said snapping out of her trance She glanced at the clock and noticed that she was going to be late " Gosh, look at the time!" she gasped. "I have to be going!"

She hugged and kissed Mae. She usually took Mae along with her for brunch but today she felt that she had a little too much on her mind to give her daughter the attention she deserved.

She straightened up and smiled at Harry "You sure you're ok?" he questioned, obviously worried about his wife's state of mind. Charlotte smiled widely at Harry, and moved in to kiss him on the cheek "for the last time honey, I'm fine!" She kissed him lovingly then scuttled out of the apartment to meet with the girls for brunch.

Charlotte virtually drifted down the streets of the Upper East Side, lost in mixed up thoughts and emotions, debating private arguments in her head. Despite numerous New Yorkers strolling leisurely around Manhattan's streets, Charlotte only seemed to notice families with young children, new mom's pushing strollers and gazing lovingly at their precious new borns, pregnant women practically glowing despite the cold gloom of New York in November. Her predicament was all she could think about. So lost in thought that she was, Charlotte almost walked right by the coffee shop where her best friends Carrie, Miranda and Samantha were waiting for her. It almost came as a relief to her as she opened the door to the welcoming smell of food and sound of light airy chatter, and was greeted warmly by her friends.


	4. Opening Up

Chapter Four – Opening Up

As usual, brunch chat centred around the trials and tribulations of one or all of her best friends relationships. Usually, she was first in line to give the odd well thought out opinion as well as her advice for a "happy and stable" marriage. True, Samantha Jones and Carrie Bradshaw were not married to their guys but they may as well be. That was Charlotte's opinion anyway.

Today however, she stayed quiet, merely nodding, shaking her head and making the right noises if they were needed. She was grateful for her girlfriends' preoccupation today, even though her contribution to the conversation was minor.

Renowned by those who knew her as a tough nut, sitting beside her friend Charlotte, Miranda Hobbes could sense that something was up. However, intuition, as well as experience, dictated that she should keep her mouth shut until the others she could catch Charlotte on her own. She resolved not to wait too long though, and to talk to her friend today. Miranda hated to think of her friends going through problems alone.

Today, she didn't have to wait very long. Within half an hour, Samantha had rushed off to meet her younger long term lover, Smith, after a heated phone call. Samantha managed, somehow, to keep her first and only monogamous relationship as exciting, fiery and stressful (her friend's opinion's, not hers) as her life had been when she was a single woman. Soon after had Sam flounced out of the café looking very pleased for herself, Carrie decided to depart also.

"I'm going to meet Big" she beamed.

Their relationship may have changed tenfold, but most of the time she still referred to her partner as "Mr Big" much to the amusement of her girl-friends. Both Miranda and Charlotte looked in mock disapproval of Carrie's decision as Carrie looked sheepish.

Miranda groaned "oh, go away already! Go meet Mr Perfect!

Although she had a lot more respect for Big these days, there was in spite of everything a tiny fraction of her that was still justifiably a little bit wary of him for her best friend's sake. Most of the time though, her mocking jibes and sarcastic banter were made in jest and luckily, Carrie knew this all too well.

"Bye ladies, enjoy the rest of your day" said Carrie as she turned on her Jimmy Choo clad heel and practically skipped out of the door, waving at them as she went. As Charlotte waved back to her smiling friend, part of her wished that she too could be that content and carefree. But right now she thought she would never be that type of person and the uncertainty of what was going on with her body terrified her.

All of a sudden with Samantha and Carrie gone, Charlotte felt very vulnerable. She could see Miranda eying her with a look of concern on her face, so she decided to leave too. It's not that she didn't want to talk to Miranda, she just didn't know how to in this situation. They were best friends and even though Charlotte had matured considerably in the past few years, deep down she still harboured a slight resentment at the fact that Miranda had Brady, without even trying , or at the time, wanting to get pregnant. She would never ever bring it up but it was still in the back of her mind.

"Well" Charlotte started as she began to gather her purse and her coat together "I better be going home now"

As she rose to stand, Miranda gently took Charlotte's hand, leaving her no choice but to stay in her seat.

"Talk to me Charlotte, I can tell something's not right here" Miranda said gently.

Charlotte wanted to deny her feelings to Miranda, which was what she had intended to do as her coping strategy for today's brunch. She had gone through this scenario in her head one hundred times on her way here and knew exactly what to say and do; stand her ground and answer no questions. But now the situation had arisen, looking into Miranda's concerned face, a single tear ran down Charlotte's cheek. Miranda squeezed Charlotte's hand then found her a Kleenex, before pulling her jacket.

"Let's walk and talk" said Miranda as she grabbed her purse in readiness of leaving. After a brief pause, Charlotte agreed and they left the café arm in arm. As they stepped into the cold November air, Charlotte knew it made sense to talk. This was something she couldn't keep inside forever, now was as good a time as any to open up.


End file.
